NH chapter 028

Chapter 28: Hold Me

Shen Tingyu stood in front of Huo Ye, holding a wine glass filled to the brim. Their height difference was not significant; Shen Tingyu only needed to slightly bend down to wrap his arms around Huo Ye’s waist.

Huo Ye opened his arms, lowering his thin and sharp eyelids, rarely able to look at him from this elevated perspective.

Shen Tingyu’s arm reached around Huo Ye’s back, his right hand encircling him. The loose black sweatshirt creased under pressure, and that arm tightened around Huo Ye’s slender waist like a snake, slowly binding him.

—This strange experience of measuring someone else’s waist with an arm was incredibly novel.

Huo Ye had a fierce and cold expression, his shoulders broad, but his waist was surprisingly soft and slender. The warm sensation of Shen Tingyu’s hand passed through the sweatshirt, creating a subtle rise and fall of his abdomen with each breath, so close that he could feel it.

From a distance, it wasn’t apparent, but now that they were close, he could catch a hint of the subtle fragrance of tea soap on Huo Ye, it was somewhat addictive, making him want to bury his face in Huo Ye’s chest and take a deep breath.

Shen Tingyu suppressed the strange greed rising in his heart, lowered his gaze to conceal the dark color in his eyes, and brought the wine glass to his lips.

One had a narrow waist and the other long arms; it was almost effortless for Shen Tingyu to drink from this glass. However, after drinking, Huo Ye noticed that just before Shen Tingyu pulled his hand away, he suddenly tightened his grip on his waist.

It was unintentional, purely malicious.

Huo Ye stumbled, being pulled two steps closer.

Unfazed, Shen Tingyu straightened up, waving his empty wine glass in demonstration and ignoring Huo Ye’s confused gaze.

“……” Assuming he was just drunk, Huo Ye decided not to dwell on this childish behavior and picked up his own glass of coconut juice, moving to switch places with Shen Tingyu.

Compared to Shen Tingyu’s slithering movements around his waist, Huo Ye’s actions were overly upright; he lowered his head and finished his drink in three to five seconds.

Shen Tingyu, seemingly disdainful, said sarcastically, “At your age, how can you still smell like milk?”

Huo Ye paused for a moment, glanced at his glass, and helplessly shrugged, “Maybe, after all, I’ve been drinking coconut milk all night.”

After speaking, he lightly blew a breath towards Shen Tingyu, who immediately turned his face away, “Huo Ye!”

Huo Ye laughed heartily, teasing, “Isn’t it fragrant?”

Shen Tingyu didn’t respond to him and ignored him altogether.

The next round began with Xiong Ying; he raised his hand, prompting everyone to continue taking turns. After a moment, Xiong Ying demonstrated his wristwatch to everyone.

Indicating that those who weren’t wearing a watch today needed to drink, some found it amusing while others cursed and complained.

Shen Tingyu happened to be someone who always wore a watch, so he naturally avoided this drink. Huo Ye didn’t frequently wear something like that; it was inconvenient when working, so he had to skip over to the side and ended up locking eyes with Gao Xiaoyuan.

Therefore, Huo Ye bypassed Shen Tingyu and waved at Gao Xiaoyuan, his eyes filled with warmth.

Gao Xiaoyuan covered her mouth in surprise and trotted over.

Shen Tingyu’s expression darkened immediately, crossing his arms and glaring at the two. Gao Xiaoyuan noticed and shrank her neck, but bravely didn’t look back at him, continuing her steps.

This round’s designated punishment required Xiong Ying to pick up the nearby Xia Zhiyao and instruct her to feed him a drink. Xia Zhiyao, caught off guard, shouted in fright, spilling her drink almost everywhere, and hit his shoulder with her fist, saying, “Get lost, you scared me!”

“Wow, I give up, you really know how to play, don’t you? You must have snuck out to fool around before, right?” Wu Zhen admitted defeat.

Xiong Ying laughed, “I don’t know how to play, I don’t know how.”

“You’re talking nonsense,” Bai Feiyu pointed out, “His brother runs a bar; even if you haven’t eaten pork, you’ve seen pigs run.”

Xiong Ying stopped laughing, “You’re talking crap!”

Everyone then began to accept their respective punishments one after another, while Huo Ye focused on Gao Xiaoyuan, politely asking, “Are you okay?”

The music in the private room was loud. Gao Xiaoyuan appeared slightly shy, but when at a party, who could rain on the fun? She nodded enthusiastically, just about to speak: “I…”

“She says she can’t,” Shen Tingyu said as he swiftly removed his watch, worth close to a million. Gao Xiaoyuan hadn’t reacted yet when this hot potato was tossed into her arms. She hurried to catch it clumsily.

That watch was worth seven figures!

Gao Xiaoyuan was terrified, almost losing her entire life’s savings.

Shen Tingyu, with a justified posture, stepped back into the center, one hand holding a wine glass and the other reaching around Huo Ye’s neck, coldly pronouncing, “Hold me.”

Huo Ye: “?”

“Isn’t it… with you being so big, is that alright?” Huo Ye said, both amused and exasperated, “I’m not in great shape right now; carrying a girl would be fine, but if I had to carry you, I might end up dropping you.”

Shen Tingyu had been waiting for this moment and without hesitation shoved the wine glass into Huo Ye’s hand: “Then I’ll carry you, and you feed me.”

Huo Ye had just grasped it when his waist tightened, and he was directly lifted off the ground, confusedly calling out, “Hey, you…”

Why was he not following the usual rules?

Shen Tingyu disregarded it, lifting him a bit to bounce.

Boys in their teenage years don’t find this intimate but rather the opposite. The more straightforward someone is, the more intimate it feels. They generally don’t mind reckless physical contact, and in middle school classrooms during break time, you can even see seven or eight boys laughing and piling together like a human tower, bodies pressed against each other.

Since they were all the same gender, they had similar experiences and exuded male hormones, admiring one another’s muscle lines while teasing about last night’s movie’s sound being left on.

Everything felt so natural, only those with a guilty conscience would feel awkward. At this moment, no one felt uneasy.

Shen Tingyu’s height was impressive, looking down from where he was held, anyone with even a slight fear of heights couldn’t handle it. Yet, Shen Tingyu’s arm was steady, holding him securely at his side and under his knee, like a safety harness on a high-altitude amusement park ride—once secured, it gave him an inexplicable sense of safety, a feeling of “I won’t die.”

Huo Ye, forced to maintain this position, fed him until he finished drinking, finally landing safely and quietly letting out a sigh of relief for reasons unknown.

It felt like the son of a wealthy family had quite the unusual thought process.

By around ten o’clock at night, everyone was mostly done having fun and prepared to head home. They had mutually agreed to tell their parents they were staying over at a classmate’s house, when in reality, they would just find a hotel under some family’s name to stay for one night—this wasn’t unusual since students from Lanjing Private High School were never in short supply of money.

Otherwise, if they returned home smelling of alcohol, wouldn’t they face a mixed double punishment from their parents? They couldn’t provoke that; could they just run away from it?

Later, half of the people present were already drunk, leaving only a few sober ones who could only drag three people at once. One was carried on their back, one was slung over a shoulder, and one was half supportive and half carried in their arms, and looking down, it was hilarious; there was even one hanging from an ankle shouting, “Set sail! Hurry, set sail!”

Shen Tingyu maintained his sobriety throughout, at least managing to speak clearly and logically, causing Huo Ye to mistakenly think he had a good alcohol tolerance. However, once they stepped outside, he hugged a flower bed and vomited.

Huo Ye handed him a bottle of mineral water, attending to him by assisting with mouth rinsing and wiping his mouth; he felt overwhelmed: “Are you okay?”

Men shouldn’t say they’re not alright; Shen Tingyu, hearing him fuzzily, immediately straightened his back but struggled to walk in a straight line: “Don’t, don’t mind me.”

Huo Ye had no choice but to say, “Alright, I won’t mind.”

A not sober Shen Tingyu was more difficult to take care of than a sober one. Though he had insisted on not needing help, Shen Tingyu still tightly clung to Huo Ye’s neck: “I can’t… you need to take care of me.”

So, should he take care of him or not?

Huo Ye chuckled, patting his hand, “It’s not far from Zhao Jiayan’s place. Can you make it on your own, or should I carry you?”

“……”

Shen Tingyu thought for two seconds and then squatted down in front of him.

“Tsk, didn’t you ask to be carried? Get on, come on.” Shen Tingyu huffed impatiently, “Hurry up, I’m feeling dizzy and want to go home.”

Huo Ye stood still, wanting to say something but hesitating.